Bristol is famous for being Banksy's hometown and the street art scene that grew around him, for Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge and SS Great Britain, for building Concorde at Filton, and for Aardman Animations, the Oscar-winning studio behind Wallace and Gromit. It's also the birthplace of the trip-hop sound through Massive Attack and Portishead, and home to one of Europe's biggest hot air balloon festivals.
Banksy and Bristol's street art
Banksy grew up in Bristol and started out painting the city's walls before anyone outside the South West knew his name, and that history is still visible if you know where to look. The Bristol Museum & Art Gallery negotiated with him directly to become the only gallery to ever properly show Banksy's work, and the resulting 2009 exhibition drew over 300,000 visitors. Several of his street pieces survive around the city, including on Park Street and in the Stokes Croft and Nelson Street area, where the Upfest festival now fills the streets with new murals every May. See our self-guided Banksy walking trail for the real locations, or our street art guide for the wider scene he helped start.
Brunel: the bridge, the ship, and the station
Isambard Kingdom Brunel left more of a mark on Bristol than almost any other city in Britain. He designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge spanning the Avon Gorge, completed after his death in 1864, and he designed the SS Great Britain, launched from Bristol in 1843 as the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ocean liner, now restored and on permanent display at the dry dock where she was built. He also designed the original Bristol Temple Meads station building, the terminus of his Great Western Railway line to London.
Concorde was built here
Concorde, the supersonic airliner, was built jointly in Filton, on the northern edge of Bristol, and Toulouse in France. Filton produced the British half of every Concorde ever made. One of the surviving aircraft, Alpha Foxtrot, the last Concorde to fly, is now the centrepiece of Aerospace Bristol at the old Filton airfield, where you can walk through the cabin and flight deck.
Aardman, Wallace and Gromit
Aardman Animations, the stop-motion studio behind Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep, has been based in Bristol since the 1970s and has won four Academy Awards. Gromit Unleashed, the city-wide sculpture trail that followed, has twice turned Bristol's streets into a free open-air exhibition, and the studio's fingerprints are still all over the city's reputation as a centre for animation and visual effects.
The sound of Bristol: trip-hop
Massive Attack and Portishead both formed in Bristol in the early 1990s, and together with Tricky they created what the music press labelled "trip-hop," a slow, bass-heavy sound built out of the city's sound-system and reggae culture. Massive Attack's 1991 debut album Blue Lines is widely credited as the genre's founding record, and both acts still headline festivals worldwide while remaining closely identified with the city.
Hot air balloons
Bristol has a genuine claim to Britain's ballooning history and hosts the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta each August, one of Europe's largest hot air balloon events, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to Ashton Court to watch mass ascents, including the shaped balloons that have become the event's signature.
Quick reference
| Famous for | Where to see it today |
|---|---|
| Banksy and street art | Self-guided walking trail, Stokes Croft, Upfest each May |
| Brunel's engineering | Clifton Suspension Bridge, SS Great Britain, Temple Meads station |
| Concorde | Aerospace Bristol, Filton |
| Aardman / Wallace and Gromit | Studio based in Bristol; past Gromit Unleashed trails around the city |
| Trip-hop music | Massive Attack and Portishead, both formed in Bristol in the early 1990s |
| Hot air balloons | Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, Ashton Court, every August |
What locals would add
Ask a Bristolian and you'll likely also hear about the city's food and drink scene, its large student population across two universities, and its reputation as one of the UK's greenest and most left-leaning cities. None of that shows up on a postcard the way Banksy or Concorde does, but it shapes what the city actually feels like to visit, laid-back, creative, and a little scruffy around the edges in a way residents are proud of rather than embarrassed by.
Frequently asked questions
Is Banksy really from Bristol?
Yes. Banksy grew up in Bristol and began painting the city's walls before becoming internationally known, and several of his early pieces remain in the city.
Can you still see Concorde in Bristol?
Yes, at Aerospace Bristol in Filton, where Alpha Foxtrot, the last Concorde built and the last to fly, is on permanent display and open to walk through.
Is the Clifton Suspension Bridge the same one Brunel designed?
Yes, though it was completed in 1864, five years after Brunel's death, using a modified version of his original design.
Why is Bristol linked to trip-hop music?
Massive Attack and Portishead both formed in Bristol in the early 1990s and built the genre out of the city's sound-system and reggae scene, starting with Massive Attack's 1991 album Blue Lines.
Is Aardman Animations still based in Bristol?
Yes, the studio behind Wallace and Gromit has been based in Bristol since the 1970s and remains headquartered there.
What is the Bristol Balloon Fiesta?
The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is an annual hot air balloon event each August at Ashton Court, one of Europe's largest, known for its mass ascents and shaped balloons.